In August 1864, Confederate Major General Sterling Price received orders to invade Missouri, bring the state into the Confederacy, and weaken Abraham Lincoln's chance at reelection. To accomplish these objectives, he intended to capture St. Louis, capture Jefferson City and install a Confederate governor in the capitol, collect supplies and weapons for the struggling Confederacy, and recruit soldiers from Missouri's large population of Southern sympathizers. As Price advanced into Missouri, he discovered that St. Louis and Jefferson City were both heavily fortified, so he abandoned plans to capture the cities, but his effort to gather provisions resulted in a supply train of 500 wagons. One of the largest cavalry battles of the Civil War was fought in the fields around Mine Creek.